Abstract

My lecture will focus on charge photogeneration in polymer / fullerene¹ and dye sensitized mesoporous² solar cells. The talk will be based around transient absorption studies of yields and lifetimes of dissociated charges in blend films and solar cells. It will particularly focus upon the experimental challenge of collecting transient optical data under conditions which can be directly related to device performance under solar irradiation. Comparative studies will be presented of different materials systems, including over different sensitiser dyes, over 20 different polymers, and perylene as well as fullerene acceptors. On the basis of these data, I will address the parameters which influencing charge photogeneration, including the roles of interfacial energetics, nanomorphology, macroscopic electric fields and charge transfer character of the dye / polymer. My talk will address the extent to which these transient absorption studies correlate with device photocurrent densities, and thus the importance of charge photogeneration in determining overall device efficiencies.

© 2010 Optical Society of America